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A Trip to Rome Inspired Healthful Preparations
FoodService Director Magazine

In 2008, Rick Laskie, executive chef for Parkhurst Dining Services at Saint Vincent College, in Latrobe, Pa., took a trip to Rome with members of the monastic community at the college. The university is not only a liberal arts college but also an archabbey, he explains. Lasko brought back inspiration from the trip to add to his program.

“We brought back some recipes from Italian chefs in Rome including our bucatini pasta all’Amatriciana, which is very simple and really terrific,” Laskie says. “It’s made with ingredients most people would have at home. But in Italy, the chefs go to the market daily, as part of the whole culture of eating there, and that is very important from both a health and social standpoint. It’s a fresh preparation that uses fresh, sweet grape tomatoes, olive oil, a bit of crushed red pepper, kosher salt and cured, not smoked, pancetta that’s rendered. You can add a bit of water for a thinner sauce. Cook the pasta to order and add white wine and Pecorino cheese. When I smell it, it takes me back to being in Rome.”

Laskie also says he makes a classic pasta Asiago, which is a great vegetarian option with tomatoes, basil, garlic and white wine.

“We’ll also do a Sicilian recipe with flank steak or round steak that’s marinated in red wine,” Laskie says. “To finish it, you take the drippings and add rum and cocoa powder. You can grill it and finish it by braising it in the oven with carrots and celery. You can also do a dish with beef knuckles marinated with fresh sage and a mirepoix of herbs and wine, which is then seared on all sides. You take the marinade and heat it, purée it, stir in a little rum and cocoa powder and finish it in the oven.”

The pastas are typically served in the monastery dining room for 60 priests. Pastas are cooked in the back of house and served as starter courses between salads and entrées. They’re also prepared for VIP lunches and dinners in small dining rooms. Laskie says a Sicilian dish that also is popular with the students is pastitsio, which is ground meat with mint and sautéed onions, with a béchamel sauce, served over penne pasta and baked like lasagna.

“The students also like our version of tiramisu for dessert with whipped, sweetened mascarpone cheese with a bit of Galliano, pastry cream and fresh fruit,” Laskie says. Mediterranean food, Lasko adds, is “very simple, healthful and natural–simple peasant food.”



View original article here
A Trip to Rome Inspired Healthful Preparations
FoodService Director Magazine

In 2008, Rick Laskie, executive chef for Parkhurst Dining Services at Saint Vincent College, in Latrobe, Pa., took a trip to Rome with members of the monastic community at the college. The university is not only a liberal arts college but also an archabbey, he explains. Lasko brought back inspiration from the trip to add to his program.

“We brought back some recipes from Italian chefs in Rome including our bucatini pasta all’Amatriciana, which is very simple and really terrific,” Laskie says. “It’s made with ingredients most people would have at home. But in Italy, the chefs go to the market daily, as part of the whole culture of eating there, and that is very important from both a health and social standpoint. It’s a fresh preparation that uses fresh, sweet grape tomatoes, olive oil, a bit of crushed red pepper, kosher salt and cured, not smoked, pancetta that’s rendered. You can add a bit of water for a thinner sauce. Cook the pasta to order and add white wine and Pecorino cheese. When I smell it, it takes me back to being in Rome.”

Laskie also says he makes a classic pasta Asiago, which is a great vegetarian option with tomatoes, basil, garlic and white wine.

“We’ll also do a Sicilian recipe with flank steak or round steak that’s marinated in red wine,” Laskie says. “To finish it, you take the drippings and add rum and cocoa powder. You can grill it and finish it by braising it in the oven with carrots and celery. You can also do a dish with beef knuckles marinated with fresh sage and a mirepoix of herbs and wine, which is then seared on all sides. You take the marinade and heat it, purée it, stir in a little rum and cocoa powder and finish it in the oven.”

The pastas are typically served in the monastery dining room for 60 priests. Pastas are cooked in the back of house and served as starter courses between salads and entrées. They’re also prepared for VIP lunches and dinners in small dining rooms. Laskie says a Sicilian dish that also is popular with the students is pastitsio, which is ground meat with mint and sautéed onions, with a béchamel sauce, served over penne pasta and baked like lasagna.

“The students also like our version of tiramisu for dessert with whipped, sweetened mascarpone cheese with a bit of Galliano, pastry cream and fresh fruit,” Laskie says. Mediterranean food, Lasko adds, is “very simple, healthful and natural–simple peasant food.”



View original article here